Five candidates are to stand in the Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward at the local elections which will take place on the 1st May.
The result last year ended in a narrow win for Labour in a ward which will see a two way fight between the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.
Cllr Christine Carroll is standing for Labour again. She currently serves on the communities and neighbourhoods committee and the standards committee on Manchester City Council and is a member of the Manchester Fire and Civil Defence authority.
Up against her is Damien O'Connor for the Liberal Democrats. He stood last time and got within 61 votes of winning the seat. He is editor of the Miles Platting and Newton Heath focus.
The other candidates are Vaseen Valentine for the Conservatives, Jonathan Mercer for the Green party and Joseph Cegla for the British National Party.
The tussle between the top two will centre on two issues. Which of them gets the credit for a number of community initiatives in the area? Secondly the record of Damien O'Connor who has stood for a number of parties including Labour and UKIP as well as allegations of fraud when he was last a councillor.
The sitting Labour councillor will come under pressure due to the backlash against the party at a national level. Her Liberal Democrat opponent is using the national Post office closure programme in his campaign material He claims that the main post office is under threat but this will not be announced until after the elections.
Councillor Carroll stands by Labour’s local record in the past year. Newton Heath’s market was under threat until it was taken under the wing of Manchester Markets following meetings between Councillor Carroll and Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein. She has also joined local residents in challenging plans to upgrade the refuse plant in the area.
For the Lib Dems, Damien O’Connor stands by his record as part of the local party’s Focus team in attending to local issues such as fencing schemes, alley gates and new walls.
I asked existing Councillor Marc Ramsbottom what issues the party would be fighting on. Top of the agenda was crime and anti social behaviour but he also cited lack of consultation about improvements in the area as well as measures to eradicate fly tipping and improvements in the quality of workmanship in social housing.
For the Tory candidate any improvement on the number of votes cast last time will be seen as a victory. Manchester is a barren place for Tory councillors currently having only one seat, and that as a result of a defection
Launching the party’s local election campaign in Dewsbury earlier this week, David Cameron claimed that the party in local government were better value for money, greener and had a better record on crime.
“These elections really matter. Local people and communities expect their
councils to deliver good service and value for money. And to play an active role
in improving the quality of life
Shadow foreign secretary William Hague on a visit to the city said the party
“Will continue to target Manchester in a bid to prove themselves the true `national' party”
In reality it is going to be a straight fight between Labour and the Lib Dems on May 1st.
You can read more of the manifesto's here
Liberal Democrat
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